Almost 200 Colorado Springs residents call on CSU to retire the expensive Martin Drake Coal Plant and invest in a low-cost clean energy future

Colorado Springs, CO -- Today, almost 200 residents provided feedback on Colorado Spring Utilities’ (CSU) long-term energy plan, including calls for early coal plant retirements and prioritization of the environment and community stewardship in utility energy decisions.

CSU owns and operates two coal plants: Martin Drake and Ray Nixon. Some residents attended the meeting with 100-Grand candy bars, symbolizing the 155 million dollars CSU customers would save if the Martin Drake and Ray Nixon coal plants are replaced with lower cost wind. As part of its long term energy planning process, CSU may be considering investment in a wind power purchase agreement (PPA), which would be Colorado Springs’ first wind investment, the cheapest resource in the state. 

“Other cities are creating new jobs and saving money by building out their clean energy infrastructure. Why can’t Colorado Springs?” says Lindsay Facknitz, a local Sierra Club Beyond Coal advocate.  “CSU is currently the last Colorado utility to make a plan for phasing out coal and building renewable energy. Every other utility in the state has a plan to go 100% carbon free and shift to renewable energy. Colorado Springs residents shouldn’t miss out on the benefits of a clean energy future.”

Colorado’s other utilities have all made carbon-free commitments to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, with plans to retire their coal: Xcel Energy is committed to 80% carbon-free electricity by 2030, Tri-State Generation and Transmission is committed to 100% renewable energy delivered to Colorado by 2040, and Colorado’s other municipal utility, Platte River Power Authority, is committed to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030. 

Residents called on CSU to commit to the early retirement of Drake by 2023 and Ray Nixon by 2026. Among the concerns were the environmental impact of burning coal or transitioning from coal to fracked gas. The Martin Drake coal plant, the last urban coal plant in the state, is the second biggest nitrogen oxides polluter in the state. Currently, CSU only has plans to reduce carbon emissions 40% by 2035, far behind other utility’s carbon reduction goals. 

Residents also urged CSU to avoid building any new fracked gas plants, which would add extra charges to electricity bills for years to come and risk becoming stranded assets in the near future. A new study by Rocky Mountain Institute finds that 90% of proposed combined-cycle gas plants in the next five years could be cost-effectively avoided with clean energy. Additionally, burning fracked gas releases methane which is 87 times worse than carbon for trapping heat and causing climate change. 

“When I first came to Colorado a number of years ago to attend college, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I’m hardly alone; year after year, millions of families from Colorado and beyond explore our iconic mountains and forests. But our spectacular state is being threatened,” says Carole Huber, Senior Instructor Retired, Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Colorado Springs. In the past decade, as Colorado has gotten hotter and drier, snowpack has become much less reliable, and our forests have been impacted by fires and pest epidemics. Climate change, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, is threatening our outdoor recreation industry as well as our food production and water supply.

Colorado Springs residents will have another opportunity in the spring through a survey and a public meeting to urge CSU to invest in a modern clean energy grid before the EIRP is due to be finalized in August 2020.